rying up the stairs. The former was in a flurry
of excitement, which increased materially when she looked into Uncle
Aaron's room and saw the awful wreck that had been made of it.

"Oh, whatever in the world has happened now?" she gasped.

As for Aaron, he could hardly speak at all. He was speechless with rage,
as he picked up his clothes and handled them gingerly.

"Spoiled, utterly spoiled," he spluttered. Then, he caught sight of Bunk
in one corner of the hall.

"It's that confounded cat," he shouted, as he made a kick at him that
missed him by a hair. "He got tangled up in the fly paper and carried it
all over the room."

But just then he saw the bit of meat that had tempted the unwary Bunk.
He picked it up and looked hard at it.

"Um-hum," he muttered, and the steely look came into his eyes.

He turned sharply on Fred.

"Where's Teddy?" he asked.

"He doesn't seem to be around here anywhere," replied Fred. "I'll see if
I can find him downstairs."

And he went down with alacrity, but carefully refrained from coming up
again. He remembered that he must see Bob Ellis at once. He opened the
front door and passed swiftly round the corner.

"He'll find him," growled Aaron bitterly. "Oh, yes, he'll find him! You
won't see either of those boys till lunch time.

"I tell you, Agnes," he went on fiercely, "one of those young scamps is
just as bad as the other. Teddy starts the mischief and Fred does all he
can to shield him."

"You don't know yet that Teddy had anything to do with it," protested
Mrs. Rushton, in a tone which she tried to make confident, but with only
partial success.

"No, of course not," he answered sarcastically, "he's never to blame for
anything. All the same I'll bet my life that he and nobody else is at
the bottom of this. How did this meat get up here, if somebody didn't
bring it?"

"Perhaps the cat brought it up," suggested Mrs. Rushton desperately.
Then, feeling the weakness of her position, she went on hurriedly:

"But now, I must get busy and clear up this awful mess. Give me those
clothes, and Martha and I will fix them up right away."

But though the damage to the clothes was soon repaired, storm clouds
were still hovering over the household when Teddy came in to lunch.

He loafed in with an elaborate pretense of unconcern. Nothing was said
at first, and he was beginning to hope when Uncle Aaron suddenly blurted
out:

"What's the matter with your hand?"

Though startled,